IAW agrees with the contents of the letter which Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvand, President of NGO/CSW Geneva, has sent to the chair o
f the Bureau of the UN Commission on the Status of Women concerning the timing of adoption of the Political Declaration at the 59th session of the UN CSW.
We are of the view that adoption of the Declaration on the first day of the session narrows the space for civil society engagement and participation in the intergovernmental process itself and deprives NGOs of the possibility of making a meaningful contribution to the ethos of the Declaration .
We therefore strongly support the recommendation that the Bureau reviews its decision on the timing of adoption of the Political Declaration.
IAW Position on the participation of NGOs in the work of the Commission:
Concerning the working methods of the CSW, we are of the view that NGOs can play a catalytic role in monitoring the Commission’s agreed conclusions at the national level. More emphasis should be put on accountability of governments and other stakeholders. NGOs can play an important role in holding national and international leaders accountable for commitments made and results achieved.International, regional and national policies concerning women’s human rights are implemented in order to ameliorate women’s lives all over the world. Therefore women should be the first to evaluate what is really happening in the field, why there is no progress or why goals are achieved.
NGOs should be encouraged to participate in the work of the Commission and in the monitoring and implementation process related to the Beijing +20.For that reason they should be allocated more time for interventions during the general and the panel discussions. They can bring forward concrete evidence as well as an evaluation of the impact of actions and results achieved at the national level in order to help the Commission monitor progress achieved. Therefore they should be allocated specific time to do so, as the working methods of the Commission aim at providing increased opportunities for sharing and exchanging ideas, experiences, lessons learned and good practices. They could participate in review sessions for example through country presentations involving participants from different institutional backgrounds addressed in the agreed conclusions including civil society. Civil society should be given access to negotiations to enhance its contribution to the work of the Commission. NGOs should select a limited number of representatives with knowledge and skills in negotiations in order to fully participate in them.
Themes of the CSW in their next 5 year work plan :
Root causes of gender inequality, feminization of poverty, gender perspectives on climate change, gender stereotypes, gender perspectives on the financial crisis, gender pay and pension gaps, gender violence, child marriage, femicide, engaging men and boys to advance gender equality, gender and the media.
Outcome of CSW :
We are in favour of a resolution as the format to be adopted on the outcome of the negotiations on thematic issues because the text does not have to be adopted by consensus, and as it is more action oriented .
